In less than six months, after five years of preparation and a €7.5m investment, 35-year-old Mark Quick along with Paul Davis and his wife Jude Davis, will oversee the first distillation of north Mayo’s very own whiskey.
But how did Quick end up investing in and distilling whiskey in a remote village in north Mayo?
“This is a long story,” he laughed as we spoke over the phone. In truth it wasn’t or it certainly didn’t seem so. Stories as unusual as this one are always very interesting and this one is no different.
Education and early career
Originally from Attymass, near Foxford, Co Mayo, Quick graduated as an electronic and computer engineer in 2005. After completing a Masters in business administration in Trinity in 2006, his focus switched from technology to the business of technology.
After setting up SourceDogg, a software company which provide software tools for procurement in 2009 in Dublin, Quick’s call back to the west emerged.
“In 2011 an opportunity opened up to move some of our operations to Galway,” he explained.
“That gave me the chance to move back west. Moving home was always in my long-term plan. I didn’t see myself living in Dublin or in the bigger cities. I am born and bred in the west.”
After selling his shares in the company in 2013, Quick was contacted by a friend in Dublin. That friend was Dr Paul Davis, a professor in DCU.
“Paul would be involved heavily in all aspects of the procurement process in Ireland as well as heading up the Masters in strategic procurement in DCU. I would have gotten to know him quite well over the years.”
“He called me and asked me to meet him about an idea he had for Lahardane so we met and discussed it. That idea was to distil whiskey.”
Paul Davis with Eoin Managan, a local grain grower who supplies Nephin Whiskey in Lahardane.
Why Lahardane?
The biggest question in all this was; why Lahardane? The remote village is renowned for its Fair Day in August, its views of Nephin Mountain and Leonard’s pub. But not whiskey.
So why decide on investing and forging a career here?
“It is the kind of place that people drinking Irish whiskey want to imagine Irish whiskey was made,” Quick eloquently explains.
“Paul and I have a fondness for fishing and whiskey and we used to do both on Lough Conn near Lahardane,” he laughed. “I also have close links with the area in that my great grandfather and grandmother were both born here.”
The genesis
Since 2014, Quick along with Davis and his wife Jude have been in the process of getting the distiller up and running. Extensive research on traditional methods of whiskey distilling in the area was conducted. Local grain growers were identified while craftsmen to design the whiskeys casks needed to be found and trained. All the while funding needed to the gathered.
Locally produced
One of Nephin Whiskey Company’s main goals is to keep everything local and focus on the area. The water used is the crystal clear water that runs down from Nephin Mountain, which overlooks Lahardane.
The turf, used for heating during the malting process is cut from the bog by local man, Tony McHale. Local brothers Darren and Ian Leonard were trained as coopers by nationally renowned cooper John Neilly.
The barley is grown locally by farmers such as Eoin Mangan, with the help of Teagasc as Lahardane is not an area renowned for tillage.
Once you pass Pontoon on the road from Foxford you are in strong suckler and sheep country. But Nephin Whiskey aims to use local grain. Quick confirmed that they are offering farmers a guaranteed premium price for the grain they supply to them.
The benefit to the local area of the distiller has yet to be seen, but early indication would suggest it is positive. By the time the distiller is up and running in less than six months, 22 locals will work there. The company is also owned predominantly by investors from Mayo, who invested €2.5m into the company. A further €2m was obtained by the Enterprise Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS) with the final €3m obtained by numerous Chinese investors under the Immigrant Investor Programme (even though Chinese investors have no ownership of the company).
Nephin Whiskey Company's coppers Ian and Darren Leonard, from Lahardane.
The whiskey itself
It will take a while before we see this triple-distilled whiskey on the shelves. When the first batch does begin to mature in April 2019, it will take three years before it is legally able to be offered to the market.
Quick expects the product to be maturing for 10-15 years before it is sold. The product itself is expected to cost €79 euro a bottle.
Whiskeys and gins are becoming more popular in the market place of late and Irish exports to America are strong. It is his hope that this trend will continue. The 10-15 years during the whiskeys maturation certainly won’t be idle for the company.
The cooperage side of the business, where the company make barrels and sell them will be in full flow.
They are also a licensed importer of whiskey into the US with a partnership company, selling ‘The Cooper Scotch Whisky’ into that market.
Revenue will be made by visitors coming to the distiller as well as selling barrels of whiskey to individuals at a cost of €6,500 per barrel.
In addition, some unaged whiskey will be released each year to the market so ‘people can follow our story’, Quick explains.
“The great thing about our story is it is real,” was Quick’s concluding line to Irish Country Living. It was an apt way to finish the conversation.
In less than six months, after five years of preparation and a €7.5m investment, 35-year-old Mark Quick along with Paul Davis and his wife Jude Davis, will oversee the first distillation of north Mayo’s very own whiskey.
But how did Quick end up investing in and distilling whiskey in a remote village in north Mayo?
“This is a long story,” he laughed as we spoke over the phone. In truth it wasn’t or it certainly didn’t seem so. Stories as unusual as this one are always very interesting and this one is no different.
Education and early career
Originally from Attymass, near Foxford, Co Mayo, Quick graduated as an electronic and computer engineer in 2005. After completing a Masters in business administration in Trinity in 2006, his focus switched from technology to the business of technology.
After setting up SourceDogg, a software company which provide software tools for procurement in 2009 in Dublin, Quick’s call back to the west emerged.
“In 2011 an opportunity opened up to move some of our operations to Galway,” he explained.
“That gave me the chance to move back west. Moving home was always in my long-term plan. I didn’t see myself living in Dublin or in the bigger cities. I am born and bred in the west.”
After selling his shares in the company in 2013, Quick was contacted by a friend in Dublin. That friend was Dr Paul Davis, a professor in DCU.
“Paul would be involved heavily in all aspects of the procurement process in Ireland as well as heading up the Masters in strategic procurement in DCU. I would have gotten to know him quite well over the years.”
“He called me and asked me to meet him about an idea he had for Lahardane so we met and discussed it. That idea was to distil whiskey.”
Paul Davis with Eoin Managan, a local grain grower who supplies Nephin Whiskey in Lahardane.
Why Lahardane?
The biggest question in all this was; why Lahardane? The remote village is renowned for its Fair Day in August, its views of Nephin Mountain and Leonard’s pub. But not whiskey.
So why decide on investing and forging a career here?
“It is the kind of place that people drinking Irish whiskey want to imagine Irish whiskey was made,” Quick eloquently explains.
“Paul and I have a fondness for fishing and whiskey and we used to do both on Lough Conn near Lahardane,” he laughed. “I also have close links with the area in that my great grandfather and grandmother were both born here.”
The genesis
Since 2014, Quick along with Davis and his wife Jude have been in the process of getting the distiller up and running. Extensive research on traditional methods of whiskey distilling in the area was conducted. Local grain growers were identified while craftsmen to design the whiskeys casks needed to be found and trained. All the while funding needed to the gathered.
Locally produced
One of Nephin Whiskey Company’s main goals is to keep everything local and focus on the area. The water used is the crystal clear water that runs down from Nephin Mountain, which overlooks Lahardane.
The turf, used for heating during the malting process is cut from the bog by local man, Tony McHale. Local brothers Darren and Ian Leonard were trained as coopers by nationally renowned cooper John Neilly.
The barley is grown locally by farmers such as Eoin Mangan, with the help of Teagasc as Lahardane is not an area renowned for tillage.
Once you pass Pontoon on the road from Foxford you are in strong suckler and sheep country. But Nephin Whiskey aims to use local grain. Quick confirmed that they are offering farmers a guaranteed premium price for the grain they supply to them.
The benefit to the local area of the distiller has yet to be seen, but early indication would suggest it is positive. By the time the distiller is up and running in less than six months, 22 locals will work there. The company is also owned predominantly by investors from Mayo, who invested €2.5m into the company. A further €2m was obtained by the Enterprise Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS) with the final €3m obtained by numerous Chinese investors under the Immigrant Investor Programme (even though Chinese investors have no ownership of the company).
Nephin Whiskey Company's coppers Ian and Darren Leonard, from Lahardane.
The whiskey itself
It will take a while before we see this triple-distilled whiskey on the shelves. When the first batch does begin to mature in April 2019, it will take three years before it is legally able to be offered to the market.
Quick expects the product to be maturing for 10-15 years before it is sold. The product itself is expected to cost €79 euro a bottle.
Whiskeys and gins are becoming more popular in the market place of late and Irish exports to America are strong. It is his hope that this trend will continue. The 10-15 years during the whiskeys maturation certainly won’t be idle for the company.
The cooperage side of the business, where the company make barrels and sell them will be in full flow.
They are also a licensed importer of whiskey into the US with a partnership company, selling ‘The Cooper Scotch Whisky’ into that market.
Revenue will be made by visitors coming to the distiller as well as selling barrels of whiskey to individuals at a cost of €6,500 per barrel.
In addition, some unaged whiskey will be released each year to the market so ‘people can follow our story’, Quick explains.
“The great thing about our story is it is real,” was Quick’s concluding line to Irish Country Living. It was an apt way to finish the conversation.
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